


Autumn

by Infiniteleft



Series: Comforts [3]
Category: Vocaloid
Genre: Angst, F/M, Ficlet Collection, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-26
Updated: 2020-10-26
Packaged: 2021-03-09 06:19:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27169208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Infiniteleft/pseuds/Infiniteleft
Summary: Another collection of ficlets, but this time more general hc!verse centric. Still has Kaimei in it, but with a higher dosage of angst.
Relationships: Kaito/Meiko (Vocaloid)
Series: Comforts [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1934644
Kudos: 2





	1. Smoke & Revenge

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, I have a prompt list! But a seasonal prompt list! And it's _definitely_ in Home Comforts now. Is there spoilers for the main fic in here? Eh. Only backstory things so far.
> 
> For those curious, all OCs are relatives. Because I didn't feel like making every vocaloid related to eachother.
> 
> Prompt list can be found here: https://50-item-writing-prompts.tumblr.com/post/181874763750/50-winter-writing-prompts-traveling-to-a-frozen

The chill bit into her skin as she sat on a log that was far too damp for her comfort. Toru had laughed when she’d first sat down on it, discovering the unpleasant surprise. At least her friend was more sympathetic to her plight, though she doubted he’d laugh at her directly. Speaking of, she squinted at him from across the flames. It was unusual for him to be so… withdrawn, Meiko guessed was the closest word. Then again, it’d only been two months since the whole shitshow with his grandfather, so maybe that was it. Her mother hadn’t really had any useful advice to give other than to give him space.

She really hoped the whole ‘needing space’ thing would be over soon, 'cause this was just weird.

With another useless sigh, Meiko looked around for Toru. He said he’d be back in just a moment, and it wasn’t that she doubted him, it was just… she stole another look at her friend. Too tense. Yeah, she might not be doubting him, but Kaito sure was. Not for the first time did Meiko kinda wanna strangle his grandfather. Guy was a _dick_ , and that was before the whole… yeah. She coughed, catching his attention.

“Are you okay?” It was hard to hear him over the snapping and hissing of the wood, but she didn’t miss the stress in his face, or the way he leaned to the side to look at her around the flames. Wow, now that she was looking at him dead on, she wondered how much rest he was getting. At one point during all this, he’d admitted that he’d never been able to stay asleep. Ever.

There were a lot of reasons behind it, but Kaito admitted that some of them he couldn't place beyond an overwhelming weight on his chest whenever he laid down. The last thing she wanted to do was make him worry any more, so she flashed him a grin. “Yep. It’s just really dry out here. And, you know, cold.” She shrugged, tugging her hair around her face, hoping it would provide some insulation.

Kaito stared at her for a long moment. There was a faint crackle from behind her. He seemed to realize he was staring, because he looked away just as abruptly. The leaves crunching signalled Toru’s approach, and they both looked up in his direction. Before his great-grandfather came into earshot, Kaito turned back to her. “Mei-chan, you know you don’t have to sit over there? You can move over--”

A breeze blew smoke into her face and she coughed violently.

“-over to where it’s not going to do that.” He finished, rising to his feet. “That… that makes the fifth time already, Mei-chan. I don’t think that’s good for you…”

Maybe he had a point... “Fine,” she conceded. Or tried to. It was a little hard to say anything through hacking up her lungs. She scooted away from her old seat, whining when she felt the cold bite into her legs through her damp jeans. Figuring this was as close an offer as he’d make, she replanted herself down next to him, scrubbing the tears out of her eyes.

Setting the wood down, Kaito’s great-grandfather shook his head at them. “Having a bit of trouble there?”

Really? Really now? Meiko scowled at him, opening her mouth to retort that everything was just fine, thank you sir, when luck decided that it would be really, super, incredibly funny to spit her words back in her face. Another gust of wind brought the ash into her eyes again, and her only saving grace was that over her own coughing, she at least wasn’t suffering alone.

Toru just laughed. “Ah, I see now. Too wet, do you think?” He poked at the logs with a stick, causing them to crumble. Yet another puff of smoke burst forth… and this time, it was mercifully not in her direction. It was with a large amount of glee that she watched the older man get a taste of what she’d been inadvertently eating since she sat down.

Revenge was sweet, and it tasted a little bit like pine trees.


	2. Frostbite

This new house was weird. It was small and strange, and her room in the basement didn’t feel like home. It didn’t matter that it gave her more room than her old one and it didn’t matter that she’d have more privacy. The house creaked and moaned over her head and Meiko just plain didn’t like it. Rolling over in time with a crack from the beams over her head, the clock read just a few minutes shy of two AM. She sighed. Getting up, the floor felt downright chilly under her feet as she crept back upstairs.

Passing by her mother’s room, the door was shut and the lights off. When she pressed her ear to the wood, she could hear faint snoring coming from inside. She was safe, clear to go clear her head. It didn’t take her long to find her coat in the closet, nor her shoes by the door. Creeping towards the back entrance, she keyed in the alarm code her mother had drilled into her head. A soft beep when it was accepted, and she stepped outside.

When she was a little kid, Meiko remembered she used to love wintertime. The season growing colder always signalled the time off her parents could get, and the days lining up so that they’d all go out and get something nice to eat. Warm drinks. The snow. Clear midnight skies and all the happy stars beyond, twinkling just shy of her reach.

That was only four years ago, why did she feel so _old?_

Fuck. She knew why. She knew exactly why and it made her feel so angry all over again. Angry and tired and violently homesick. The fact she could see her breath when she scoffed made her angry, too. It was all so fucking stupid. Why couldn’t they just _talk_ like normal, adult human beings? Why the fuck were they so angry all the time? Yeah, sure, they were adults and being an adult sucked. Meiko knew that. But watching it all fall apart was just so… so… it was ridiculous. They fought over her, so why couldn’t they fight to stay _for_ her?

Her father was a fucking coward, that was why. Stupid and selfish. It was only three months ago since they’d separated, _why_ did he have to go and find his new little girlfriend who was more _perfect_ than her mom?

She let her head roll up to those very same stars he used to teach her about. It hurt that she couldn’t remember the names or the constellations. It wasn’t helpful to want to go back to when she was a little girl, but standing here in the frosty air she used to adore, the new houses around her that lacked all the city charm… it was so lonely.


	3. Fried Apples

Staring out at the trees swaying in the autumn breeze brought back hordes and hordes of memories. Of standing at his Nana’s side as she talked, the pleasant weight her hand was on his shoulder; of watching Pa struggle with the branches that were about to come down; of watching the two of them talk to his mom, and the freedom that came after.

It also reminded him of making an unwise amount of fried apples every time the leaves would turn. That apple tree had been -- and still was -- Nana’s pride and joy. Which was exactly why he was standing at the stove again, and why he dragged Miku into it.

“It won’t take as long as last time, I promise,” he told her when she made a face. “Peeling them is the worst part, and you know how to do that. It’s easy.”

Miku scrunched up her nose, much like a child would at the thought of eating something utterly despised. Honestly, it was kind of cute. And it also made her look like the petulant child she was at times. “You said that last time.”

...she had a point.

Kaito tilted his head with a grimace, shaking his finger. “I did, didn’t I? Well, this time it really should be easy. If it’s not, you’re welcome to leave at any point  _ after _ thirty minutes, okay? Just give it that long.” His sister sighed dramatically, but had given in.

They were at the fifteen minute mark, and he was done with all the dry ingredients, but…

“Miku? Miku…” She looked up at him with an expression of absolute despair when he spoke her name. She had only two apples peeled, and the third in her hands looked like it might be beyond salvageable. For most people, anyway. “I-- are you having trouble with that?”

She held up the peeler without comment, ducking her head. “It’s not working! It gets stuck, or it just slides around and tries to cut into my fingers and--”

“Here, let me see…” Pulling out the slimy skin still stuck to the blade, he frowned. “Ah. Hm. Now, that might be your problem. Okay, forget this, it’s done for. Ah… hm… where did she… go get a paring knife from over there, will you? Use that instead -- but be careful, alright?”

Miku rolled her eyes. “Yeah, sure,  _ grandpa _ , I’ll be very, very careful.” She waltzed over to the knife block, completely oblivious to the way her brother froze up as if slapped.

_She doesn’t know about him, she doesn’t know about it, she didn’t_ **_mean_ ** _it--_

“Get me one too, while you’re at it. Goes faster with four hands.” He shunted the peels already on the cutting board into the trash in lieu of looking back at her. Meiko was right, he really needed to work on how to moderate his tone… a sigh. Okay. It wasn’t her fault. It wasn’t his fault either, and his grandfather was dead and couldn’t hurt either of them. It was fine. He was in Nana’s kitchen, his mother was upstairs, and it was fine.

The knife was set down next to him very, very gently. He didn’t miss how she pulled away hesitantly, and he knew that she was probably giving him one of those weird looks she’d give him every now and then, when he would get reminded of his grandparents and -- well, remembered all that happened. He should probably tell Miku about it one of these days, if she doesn’t know already. But finding words to say is hard, and when he lays awake at night, he wonders what good it would do. It wouldn’t stop it from happening, it wouldn’t stop her from accidentally stepping on landmines she couldn't see, and all it would really do is scare her.

Even just thinking about it now made him want to take a long nap. One that'd last a century or more.

“So,” he says instead of trying to figure out hard feelings, “we’ll split it. You take four, I’ll take four, and then we’ll cut them. Sound good?”

Relief was evident in Miku’s voice. “Yeah, that works! I’m gonna beat you -- you’re gonna be on your first apple by the time I’m done!”

It was his turn to shake his head disapprovingly. “I’ve got… what did you call them, Miku? Old man hands? I’d rather not send myself to the ER today, thank you… you shouldn’t, either. Careful.”

* * *

Soon enough they dropped all the slices into the bowl. Having lost their impromptu race, Kaito once again cleared out the scraps into the bin, leaving Miku to mix around the apples and spiced sugar. “Pan’s on medium,” he told her, “so just put it all in. Don’t get any on the stovetop, please.”

“I won’t, I won’t! Geez, you’d think I’m a kid or something.” He heard her scraping at the bowl, and the immediate sizzling told him she’d managed to get it all inside. Hey, not bad.

Kaito shook his head with a light laugh. “You sure act like it a lot, Miku. Honestly, you kind of always are. You’re still only sixteen, you know.”

“I’m almost an adult!”

“Key word there being almost, Miku. There’s a lot of things about being an adult you don’t have to deal with yet. Like electrical bills, for starters. Or a mortgage… a car… having to take personal responsibility for things that aren't your fault… listen, okay, Miku, being an adult sucks. You have to learn how to schedule things. _Schedule._ It’s terrible. Don’t do it. Savor being a teenager, because it’s downhill from there.”

He could almost _hear_ the look she was giving him. “Uhm… Nii-san… you good?”

“Mm. Define ‘good’.”

“Good as in ‘not about to start crying’ good. Or the whole ‘not having an existential crisis’ good. One of the two.” When Kaito turned around, Miku was squinting at him very intently.

“Ah. Then yes, I’m fine.” He nodded his head, then pointedly cocked it to the side. “You might want to start stirring that, Miku, before it catches on fire. Remember the whole responsibility thing I just mentioned?”

She blinked at him before turning around with an undignified squeak.

Mmm. Burnt cinnamon and sugar. Delicious, and it too reminded him of being her age. Sure, he might’ve had a handle of cooking by that point, but that didn’t stop him from losing track of time, or getting into conversations and _then_ losing track of time. Which… yeah, he probably was still bad at, given that it’d taken him so long to remind her to stir it.

Oops.


End file.
